Even with the benefit of finish line photography, a stewards enquiry and an artist in residence, officials could not split Richard Wilkinson and Darren Schaefer who were jointly awarded victory in well-contested race on Saturday. Events on the Dangarsleigh Road course unfolded under tough conditions with temperatures of 27 degrees and a strong 48kph NW wind that saw rapid speeds on the outward leg of the 30K handicap.
A welcome return to club racing for Chris Stace gave the Go group a bit of extra leg power and with Jo Wauch and Bob Murison the trio made good progress on the outward leg. 3 minutes behind them, five riders gave chase with Richard Wilkinson and Clint Bourke splitting that group up early on with the pair almost catching Chris by the turn, though still almost 2 minutes behind the leaders.
Meanwhile, the 5-minute group of comback king Darren “Mongrel” Schaefer, Captain Creagan, Brendon Cole and Dene Bourke were motoring along, recording almost 42kph for the outward leg and collecting Wilf along the way. Now heading back into the wind, they picked up Alex Thomas and Rhys Williams and at the Elliott’s Road turn they were only 13 seconds behind Wilko and Bourkey but still over a minute behind Jo and Bob at the head of the race.
Lachie was doing a sterling job running the race and had managed to capture times for the early riders at the turn and then positioned himself at the Elliott’s Road intersection before the run down to the monument. The 8-minute block group was still together when they passed the camera, over three and a half minutes behind the leaders and now had scratch breathing down their necks with Chris Stace the ham in the sandwich.
On the run down to the monument, scratch passed at speed causing a split and over the top of the subsequent climb the chasing group was down to six riders including Paul Williams who was hanging in there gamely having been promoted to block this week. It seemed a lost cause but this group drove on hard into the wind with some long turns being pulled as the remnants of the groups ahead came into sight. The wind had decimated the field and over the top of Peterson’s more riders were picked off but despite the pace picking up even further, the leaders were out of sight.
Up front, Schaef and Brendon had caught Clint and Wilko and had bridged the gap to Jo to form a group of 5 riders that would contest the sprint. In the end, even with Kirky getting out his pencils for a quick bit of finish line sketching, there was no clear winner and the spoils were rightly shared between Wilko and The Mongrel. Jo finished a great race in third place ahead of impressive rides from Brendon and Clint.
Having pulled back almost 3 minutes on the leaders in the last 9km the scratch/block bunch charged across the line with Hill Muncher Harris claiming fastest time and at least one rider thinking there were still a handful of RROTY points at stake! No such luck however and with Johnny and San Remo out of action this week, Jo made some serious inroads on San Remo at the top of the league, narrowing the margin to 13 points with 2 weeks remaining. Wilko moved up a spot to 4th and despite not having his best ever race, Wilf has climbed from 11th to 8th courtesy of Houlty and Col not racing this week.
Thanks to Lachie for doing a great job of the signs, running the race and for providing some interesting timing splits along the way. And well done to our winners and to all our riders with a high standard of racing on display in tough conditions. Kirky’s sketch will be auctioned off at the end of the season at the Christmas Party but sealed bids can be submitted at any time prior to then in a variety of currencies including cash, RROTY points and beer.
Next week it is the penultimate RROTY round on Boorolong Road and with San Remo on duty (getting 4 points for his work) Jo could either close the gap to 7 points or we could be crowning our 2014 RROTY Champion. One thing’s for sure – you don’t want to miss it!
| Place | H/cap | Start | Turn | Split -1 | Elliotts | Split-2 | Finish | Total | Avg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WILKINSON R | 1 | 03:00 | 16:15:46 | 16:38:13 | 0:22:27 | 16:50:19 | 0:34:33 | 17:08:05 | 0:52:19 | 34.41 |
| SCHAEFER D | 1 | 05:00 | 16:17:46 | 16:39:22 | 0:21:36 | 16:50:32 | 0:32:46 | 17:08:05 | 0:50:19 | 35.77 |
| WAUCH Jo | 3 | 00:00 | 16:12:46 | 16:36:24 | 0:23:38 | 16:49:29 | 0:36:43 | 17:08:05 | 0:55:19 | 32.54 |
| COLE Brendon | 4 | 05:00 | 16:17:46 | 16:39:26 | 0:21:40 | 16:50:32 | 0:32:46 | 17:08:06 | 0:50:20 | 35.76 |
| BOURKE Clint | 5 | 03:00 | 16:15:46 | 16:38:13 | 0:22:27 | 16:50:19 | 0:34:33 | 17:08:06 | 0:52:20 | 34.39 |
| HALE Rob | 6 | 08:00 | 16:20:46 | No Data | No Data | 16:53:05 | 0:32:19 | 17:09:16 | 0:48:30 | 37.11 |
| HARRIS Ben | 7 | 10:00 | 16:22:46 | No Data | No Data | 16:53:14 | 0:30:28 | 17:09:16 | 0:46:30 FT | 38.71 |
| CREAGAN Pete | 8 | 05:00 | 16:17:46 | 16:39:24 | 0:21:38 | 16:50:38 | 0:32:52 | 17:09:17 | 0:51:31 | 34.94 |
| MUNDAY Sam | 9 | 08:00 | 16:20:46 | No Data | No Data | 16:53:05 | 0:32:19 | 17:09:19 | 0:48:33 | 37.08 |
| MUNDAY Dave | 10 | 10:00 | 16:22:46 | No Data | No Data | 16:53:14 | 0:30:28 | 17:09:19 | 0:46:33 | 38.67 |
| SWAN Andrew | 11 | 10:00 | 16:22:46 | No Data | No Data | 16:53:14 | 0:30:28 | 17:09:20 | 0:46:34 | 38.65 |
| WILLIAMS Paul | 12 | 08:00 | 16:20:46 | No Data | No Data | 16:53:05 | 0:32:19 | 17:09:20 | 0:48:34 | 37.06 |
| BOURKE Dene | 13 | 05:00 | 16:17:46 | 16:39:26 | 0:21:40 | 16:50:38 | 0:32:52 | 17:09:42 | 0:51:56 | 34.66 |
| KELLER Wilfried | 14 | 03:00 | 16:15:46 | 16:39:25 | 0:23:39 | 16:50:38 | 0:34:52 | 17:10:04 | 0:54:18 | 33.15 |
| WILLIAMS Rhys | 15 | 03:00 | 16:15:46 | 16:39:06 | 0:23:20 | 16:50:37 | 0:34:21 | 17:10:53 | 0:55:07 | 32.66 |
| THOMAS Alex | 16 | 03:00 | 16:15:46 | 16:38:22 | 0:22:36 | 16:50:38 | 0:34:52 | 17:11:07 | 0:55:21 | 32.52 |
| TINDALE Rob | 17 | 08:00 | 16:20:46 | No Data | No Data | 16:53:05 | 0:32:19 | 17:11:52 | 0:51:06 | 35.23 |
| MURISON Bob | 18 | 00:00 | 16:12:46 | 16:36:24 | 0:23:38 | 16:49:29 | 0:36:43 | 17:11:52 | 0:59:06 | 30.46 |
| KIRK Andrew | 19 | 10:00 | 16:22:46 | No Data | No Data | 16:53:14 | 0:30:28 | 17:11:53 | 0:49:07 | 36.65 |
| STACE Chris | 20 | 00:00 | 16:12:46 | 16:38:10 | 0:25:24 | 16:53:13 | 0:40:27 | No Data | No Data | No Data |